Fast Food America

[starbug1]

This was in ERic Schlosser's book "Fast Food America."

 

...On the kill floor' date=' what I see no lonber unfolds in a logical manner. It's one strange image after another. A worker with a power saw slices cattle into halves as though they were two-by-fours, and then the halves swing by me into the cooler. It feels like a slaughterhouse now. Dozens of cattle, stripped of their skins, dangle on chains from their hind legs. My host stops and asks how I feel, if I want to go any further. This is where some people get sick. I feel fine, determined to see the whole process, the world that's been deliberately hidden. The kill floor is hot and humid. It stinks of maure. Cattle have a body temperature of about 101 degrees, and there are a lot of them in the room. Carcasses swing so fast along the rail that you have to keep an eye on them constantly, dodge them, watch your step, or one will slam you and throw you onto the bloody concrete floor. It happens to workers all the time.

 

I see: a man reach inside cattle and pull our their kidneys with his bare hands, then drop the kidneys down a metal chute, over and over again, as each animal passes by him; a stainless steel rack of tongues; Whizzards peeling meat off decapitated heads, picking them almost as clean as the white skulls painted by Georgia O'Keeffe. We wade through blood that's ankle deep and that pours down drains into huge vats below us. As we approach the start of the line, for the first time I hear the stady [i']pop, pop, pop[/i] of live animals being stunneed.

 

Now the cattle suspended above me look just like the cattle I've seen on ranches for years, but these ones are upside down swinging on hooks. For a moment, the sight seems unreal; there are so many of them, a herd of them, lifeless. And then I see a few hind legs still kicking, a final reflex action, and the reailty comes hard and clear.

 

For eight and a half hours, a worker called a "sticker" does nothing but stand in a river of blood, being dreched in blood, slitting the neck of a steer every ten seconds or so, severing its carotid artery. He uses a long knife and must hit exactly the right spot to kill the animal humanely. He hits that spot again and again. We walk up a slippery metal stairway and reach a small platform, where the production line begins. A man turns and smiles at me. He wears safety goggles and a hardhat. His face is splattered with gray matter and blood. He is the 'knocker," the man who welcomes cattle to the building. Cattle walk down a narrow chute and pause in front of him, blocked by a gate, and then he shoots them in the head with a captive bolt stunner--a compressed-air gun attached to the ceiling by a long hose--which fires a steel bolt that knocks the cattle unconscious. The animals keep strolling up, oblivious to what comes next, and he stands over them and shoots. For eight and a half hours, he just shoots. As I stand there, he misses a few times and shoots the same animal twice. As soon as the steer falls, a worker grabs one of its hind legs, shackles it to a chain, and the chain lifts the huge animal into the air.

 

I watch the knocker knock cattle for a couple of minutes. The animals are powerful and imposing one moment and then gone in an instant, suspended from a rail, ready for carving. A steer slips from its chain, falls to the ground, and gets its head caught in one end of a conveyer belt. The production line stops as workers struggle to free the steer, stunned but alive from the machinery. I've seen enough.

 

Does think make anyone not want to eat McDonald's ever again???

[Aardvark]

Does think make anyone not want to eat McDonald's ever again???

 

Humans are excellent at selective blindness. If they don't want to see it and it isn't actually rubbed in their faces than they won't see it.

 

Personally the idea of eating a McDonalds burger makes me feel sick.

[SorceressPol]

Does think make anyone not want to eat McDonald's ever again???

 

As hungry as I am right now, this doesn't even phase me. I'm just happy I don't have to go through all that effort to make my burgers.

[Severian]

Does think make anyone not want to eat McDonald's ever again???

 

Which part of that excerpt would put you off?

[Aardvark]

Which part of that excerpt would put you off?

 

The industrial process that the food goes through. Each burger contains meat from hundreds of different animals. The meat includes all the bits of the animal that are not normally considered edible.

 

Perhaps if burgers were renamed 'mashed up a***hole and eyelid patties' they wouldn't seem so appettizing?

[Sisyphus]

Eh. However revolting one considers the process to make them or what they're made of, it doesn't alter either the taste or the nutrition of the thing, so it's kind of irrational to let it affect whether or not you eat it.

 

On a side note, you should rent Soylent Green.

[Aardvark]

Eh. However revolting one considers the process to make them or what they're made of, it doesn't alter either the taste or the nutrition of the thing, so it's kind of irrational to let it affect whether or not you eat it.

 

My instincts tell me that food that undergoes such processes must by definition be unhealthy.

 

Having trusted my instincts i can also use my reason and consider the hormones and steriods fed to cattle. I can also consider the saturated fat content of the burgers.

 

On an another level i also find that i don't like the bland overprocessed taste much anyway. It reminds me of baby food.

 

Looks to me like my irrational instincts are worth listening too.

 

On a side note, you should rent Soylent Green.

 

Excellent film!

[Severian]

The industrial process that the food goes through. Each burger contains meat from hundreds of different animals. The meat includes all the bits of the animal that are not normally considered edible.

 

Perhaps if burgers were renamed 'mashed up a***hole and eyelid patties' they wouldn't seem so appettizing?

 

My father owned a slaughterhoue and I would go along with him sometimes and watch the 'executions' (we had to wear wellington boots because the blood came up to our ankles). So I suppose I am used to it.

 

Did you ever think burgers were anything but lips and asshole?

[Sisyphus]

My instincts tell me that food that undergoes such processes must by definition be unhealthy.

 

Having trusted my instincts i can also use my reason and consider the hormones and steriods fed to cattle. I can also consider the saturated fat content of the burgers.

 

So they're unhealthy because of the amount of saturated fat in them' date=' not because they're made of disgusting parts. I'm guessing what you find most revolting is more the "asshole" part rather than the "fat" part, which we instinctively crave.

 

On an another level i also find that i don't like the bland overprocessed taste much anyway. It reminds me of baby food.

 

I don't like them either. But I already didn't like them before I ever knew how they were made. The taste doesn't change.

[Phi for All]

It seems to me there are at least two distinct issues here. Cruelty before slaughter and production processing.

 

For cruelty, "He uses a long knife and must hit exactly the right spot to kill the animal humanely. He hits that spot again and again" after the cattle have been knocked unconscious suggests they are efficient and have minimized any trauma to the animal simply because it would disrupt the line if they didn't. I have no problem with having someone "reach inside cattle and pull our their kidneys with his bare hands, then drop the kidneys down a metal chute, over and over again, as each animal passes by him", or rivers of blood cascading down on the slaughterhouse workers. How else are they going to do it?

 

If you eat the beef you have to accept that the animals must be killed and there seems to be no unnecessary cruelty in the slaughtering process. The misleading vividness of the blood and the saws and making it seem like the cows are "tricked" into walking obligingly to their deaths is hand-waving to me.

 

Production process is where I have a big problem. I once read that one out of every nine cows you see in fields in the US was destined for McDonald's. McD is known for using every bit of the cow in their ground hamburger, including hooves faces and tails (but not intestines). All ground hamburger has fat added to it (no more than 30%) and contains some less than desirable bits; ground beef does not. I always buy beef from stores that offer organically fed cuts from cows that weren't fed antibiotics or hormones. If it's ground I buy ground sirloin or ground chuck so I know which parts are in there.

[Severian]

I

For cruelty' date=' "He uses a long knife and must hit exactly the right spot to kill the animal humanely. He hits that spot again and again" after the cattle have been knocked unconscious suggests they are efficient and have minimized any trauma to the animal simply because it would disrupt the line if they didn't.

[/quote']

 

I have never seen a bullock (as a 'steer' is called in Britain) not be instantly killed. It is very bad practice for them to be mistreated because the stress releases hormones (adenalin?) which makes the meat tough. It makes comercial sense to do it humanely, and if you ever go back to where the cattle are kept just before slaughtering you will see that it is a deliberately calming environment (lots of hay, plenty of room etc).

 

Hmmm... it is interesting that they kill them differently in the US. In the UK the bolt through the brain is an electric shock which kills them instantly, so there is no need to cut the throat.

 

Production process is where I have a big problem. I once read that one out of every nine cows you see in fields in the US was destined for McDonald's. McD is known for using every bit of the cow in their ground hamburger, including hooves faces and tails (but not intestines). All ground hamburger has fat added to it (no more than 30%) and contains some less than desirable bits; ground beef does not. I always buy beef from stores that offer organically fed cuts from cows that weren't fed antibiotics or hormones. If it's ground I buy ground sirloin or ground chuck so I know which parts are in there.

 

This would be my problem too. In fact, my father wouldn't let us eat normal burgers when i was a child. If we wanted burgers he would insist on mincing steaks and make them into burgers himself.

[Phi for All]

This would be my problem too. In fact, my father wouldn't let us eat normal burgers when i was a child. If we wanted burgers he would insist on mincing steaks and make them into burgers himself.

I don't eat burgers much anymore. Grinding tougher cuts of meat to make them palatable is what ground beef is all about.

 

Quality over quantity has become my new motto in the last several years. I'm no longer in stressful daily situations where I have to resort to filling up quickly on fast foods. I spend the same amount of money, time and effort and have a more enjoyable experience, better health and am less of a "consumer" by cutting down on portions and buying better goods.

 

I also hate being ripped off, and many people don't realize that fast food places sell their main menu items at a slight markup so they can really cash in on the side items. Fries and soft drinks have the highest markups of any foodstuffs in the industry. Ten years ago I used to get glares from assistant managers when I would order two burgers and nothing else.

[insane_alien]

when i eat at McDonalds its usually if i haven't ate anything for a week and am about to collapse from starvation and its the nearest food place. i also know that its incredible unhealthy. only ever ate a mcdonalds burger 5 times. quite tasteless and looks nothing like the picture(i know its never going to look exactly like the picture but there are limits, like having the burger cooked and maybe some of that green stuff in the pictures)

[bascule]

Ugh. This is why I don't eat tetrapods. I don't know how anyone can eat fast food, especially chicken nuggets. The idea of chickens being butchered, ground up, and squeezed into an injection molded paste is so morbidly grusome...

[gcol]

I prefer my meat well rotted and second-hand, after its been turned into fertiliser and converted into vegetables. I just love the screaming of cabbage being cut up alive and thrown into boiling water in the morning.

[Phi for All]

I don't know how anyone can eat fast food, especially chicken nuggets. The idea of chickens being butchered, ground up, and squeezed into an injection molded paste is so morbidly grusome...

Ah, but when said paste is molded into dinosaurs, the resulting educational value seems to overcome any gastronomical objections. At least from kids....

 

 

[starbug1]

That article didn't change my opinion of fast food anymore that it did you. Sure, it put me off for a minute, albeit I knew all that stuff to begin with. I still eat fast food. That is, until I finished the book just recently.

 

I didn't hear from any of you in your posts whether you had read the book or not. It is a necessity to know just exactly what's going on in the fast food industry, and this guy drives home. So please check it out. It's not so much the "slaughterhouses" per se, which cleaned up its act after the Jungle was published and T. Roosevelt had all those provisions made.

 

What really disgusted me was the working conditions for the workers. Most of them are immigrants, who work ungodly hours. I would post the exerpts from the book, but really, you don't get an idea of the whole spectrum of accounts from just a few exerpts. One in three people working in slaughterhouses sustain a serious injury. Schlosser interview's some of the workers, who almost always are living in poverty conditions. And it really opened my eyes to hear that a lot of them go home and clean and sharpen their long slaughtering blades. Still, this didn't keep me away from fast food.

 

Neither did the numerous accounts of disease outbreaks in hamburger, such as ecoli, from poor sanitary conditions. Neither did the inhumanity performed at such places as Tyson. I'm not nor have ever been one of those PETA supporters or any of that junk, but it still is wrong. And I still eat chicken. I just think what they do to get chicken and beef all over the world is mass market madness. Just a step below walmart.

 

I was appalled at the immorality of the whole fast food chain business after the revealing history of Schlosser's research. He did an extensive study that has greatly affected the way I look at fast food. It's gets pretty vivid. Fast food causes too many problems, and as much as I thought I knew before, I still kinda remained ignorant on the matter. No longer, however. Fast Food America is a book you really can't just ignore. It makes me want to be a vegetarian, although I probably won't. I just couldn't do it. Though it does make me a whole lot more skeptical about fast food places. Yeah, it's fun, but I think I'd rather know what I'm eating and not eat it for the right reasons than eat it an be completely blind. Not only is fast food a world wide problem for health, it suddenly becomes gross every time I remember some vivid recap from that book.

 

So now every time a friend suggests we go to burger king to eat or something, I just glare at him and say, hell no.

 

Ah, but when said paste is molded into dinosaurs, the resulting educational value seems to overcome any gastronomical objections. At least from kids....

 

very witty and educational. Though I think Bascule said it perfectly.

 

 

The idea of chickens being butchered, ground up, and squeezed into an injection molded paste is so morbidly grusome...

 

After reading about the Tyson incidents, I really hate processed chicken products thrown in batter and deep fryed. I mean has anyone had McNuggests!!!!! What the hell are they supposed to be!!!!!

[Lance]

I mean has anyone had McNuggests!!!!! What the hell are they supposed to be!!!!!

 

Tasty...? And that they are.

[bascule]

Tasty...? And that they are.

 

Ewww, McNuggets are anything but tasty

[Phi for All]

Ewww, McNuggets are anything but tasty

Don't they taste like honey mustard and ranch dressing?

[bascule]

Don't they taste like honey mustard and ranch dressing?

 

Perhaps a cracker is a better vehicle for that kind of flavoring. I just remember them being chewey and gross and tasting of oil. But I haven't eaten a McNugget, much less eaten at McDonalds, in nearly a decade.

[starbug1]

Don't they taste like honey mustard and ranch dressing?

 

 

What are you talking about?!?

 

I haven't had a McNuggest in about 3 or 4 years, yet they tasted then the same they did when I was a kid. Just this really crappy meat with a strange breading. They are tasty. Burger King has the "healthier-looking" chicken nuggest. However, I don't eat either...I just get the chicken sandwiches. The dollar menu gets me every time..

[Phi for All]

That article didn't change my opinion of fast food anymore that it did you. Sure, it put me off for a minute, albeit I knew all that stuff to begin with. I still eat fast food.

So now every time a friend suggests we go to burger king to eat or something' date=' I just glare at him and say, hell no.[/quote']

I mean has anyone had McNuggests!!!!! What the hell are they supposed to be!!!!!

I haven't had a McNuggest in about 3 or 4 years' date=' yet they tasted then the same they did when I was a kid. Just this really crappy meat with a strange breading. [b']They are tasty.[/b] Burger King has the "healthier-looking" chicken nuggest.

However' date=' I don't eat either...I just get the chicken sandwiches. The dollar menu gets me every time..[/quote']Perhaps you should try the waffles....

[starbug1]

Perhaps you should try the waffles....

 

:D I'm still laughing, really. And I have no idea what you're trying to say. Okay maybe I am a little confused...

[pcs]

Ugh. This is why I don't eat tetrapods. I don't know how anyone can eat fast food, especially chicken nuggets. The idea of chickens being butchered, ground up, and squeezed into an injection molded paste is so morbidly grusome...

 

Think of it as establishing Man's dominion over Animal.

 

Seriously though, after a night of heavy drinkin who's your pal? That's right, the 24 hr drive-thru Two double cheese and some buffalo sauce, baby. Ca'mon.....ca'maaaaaahn.